Improvement in elastic shields for trunks



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J. A. HOUSE AND H. A. HOUSE, 0F BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN ELASTIC SHIELDS FOR TRUNKS.

Speciiication forming part of Letters Patent No. 52,4 I4, dated February6, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, J. A. HOUSE and H. A. HOUSE, of Bridgeport, in thecounty of Faireld and State of Connecticut, have invented certain newand use-ful Im provements iu Elastic Shields for Trunks or Packages; andwe do hereby declare that the following is a full,

. clear, and exact description of the. constructerials more safe, and topreserve trunks or,

packages from being damaged by the rough handling` to which they areexposed in being removed from place to place; and to this `end ourinvention consists in forming a shield or guard of elastic vulcanizedrubber or guttapercha for the corners of packages, and so applying themas that they shall be the most prominent parts of the package, torelieve it from jars or shocks when roughly handled.

In carrying our invention into practice we have found itparticularly'valuable when applied to valuable trunks or packagescontaining articles of price of a rectangular' form, though we by nomeans desire our invention to be so limited, and we have thereforein thedrawings shown it as so applied, Fig. l representing, in perspective, atrunk, A, with shields or guards B applied to each of its corners, sothat in whatever way it Inay be thrown from the deck of axship to thewharf,

or from one cart, in land transportation, to another, or from arailroad-car to the ground, it must always light on one ofthe protrudingelastic guards B, and thus neutralize the violence of thejar, and savenot only the trunk butv its contents also from injury.

We construct the guard or shield B of vulcanized rubber cast in a moldof the form desired, for economy making the sides l 2 3 of a cornerguard, for example, as shown in Fig. 2, only thick enough to receivenails or screws to fasten it securely in place, while its more prominentor exposed corner, 4, is made as thick as may be required to give therequisite elasticity to effectively protect the package to which it isapplied from injury, packages of varying sizes and weights requiringshields varying in dimensions.

It is obvious that for packages containing costly mirrors, richporcelain vases, valuable photographic negatives, marble Statuary, andmany descriptions of precious goods, our invention will prove of thehighest utility, and

ythat itis capable of being applied effectively to packages of any form.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The vulcanized rubber orgutta-percha package-guard above described,constructed and operating substantially in the manner set forth.

lu testimony whereof we havehereunto subscribed our names.

JAMES A. HOUSE, HENRY A. HOUSE.

Witnesses:

GEORGE C. BISHOP, SAMUEL BURR.

